The Moments InBetween
by seriously.preoccupied
Summary: Glimpses of Rose and the Doctor's life together on the TARDIS.
1. After School Reunion

"_I thought you and me were… but I obviously got it wrong…"_

"_.,, Humans decay. You wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone that you…"_

"_What, Doctor?"_

"_You can spend the rest of your life with me. But I can't spend the rest of my life with you."_

After Sarah-Jane left, Rose retired to her room without a word. The Doctor set a course, said, "Rickey, don't touch anything," and then followed her.

He knocked on the door he knew was her room. It took a moment for her to answer – he could have sworn he heard a deep, bracing breath – before she said, "come in."

The Doctor opened the door and stepped inside the small room, with barely enough space for a twin bed and a dresser. It was full of personality, though – Rose's personality – with a colorful but homey quilt on the bed, and knick knacks they'd picked up on their travels littering the top of the dresser, along with hair ties and eyeliner and other… womanly… things. Moreover, that smell that was undeniably Rose, that he got a blissful whiff of whenever they hugged, that smell filled the whole room. He wanted to sleep in that smell.

Rose was perched on the side of her bed. She looked slumped over, defeated, confused, angry, but didn't seem to want to admit to any of it.

"Can - can I sit?" the Doctor asked. Rose shrugged. The Doctor sat daintily on the bed next to her, attempting to keep a safe distance between them, but it was a soft bed, and as it sunk under his weight his leg involuntarily fell towards hers. He tried to pull it back slowly, not to make it look like he was flinching away from her.

"Why did you do that?" Rose asked out of the blue, an angry tone to her voice.

"Do what?"

"Let Mickey come. You saw me say no, you knew I didn't want him to…"

"I don't see why not, he's your—"

"No," she said, loudly and hastily. "No… he's… he's not."

"Oh…"

There was a long awkward pause.

"Do you want me to kick him out? Open the TARDIS door, give him a swift kick in the bum, so long, Rickey!"

Despite herself Rose giggled a little. "No, it's alright. Maybe I am being unfair. I… I just… I like it when it's just us…"

The Doctor looked down at his hands, folded in his lap. He wouldn't answer, but Rose thought she saw him nod his head repeatedly, as if he agreed. He took a deep breath and lifted his head to say, "I'm sorry."

"Oh, don't worry about Mickey. Actually could be kinda fun…"

"No, I mean, I'm sorry about what I said last night. It was… cruel."

Rose took a deep breath and looked up and away, as if trying to hold in tears, and hide the ones that slipped out from the Doctor's line of vision.

"Rose, look at me…"

She turned around. One tear was rolling down her cheek. The Doctor reached his hand up to her face, wiping the tear away with his thumb… but the rest of his hand lingered there, resting on the side of her jaw. They looked at each other. Rose's eyes drifted to the Doctor's lips. Her own lips were slightly parted, and the bottom, full lip trembled just a little. Her breath hitched in her throat.

Softly, sensuously, she said, "you know, Sarah-Jane gave me a piece of advice…"

Just as softly, his voice breaking just a little, his hand still on her face, he said, "what was that?"

Suddenly, several earsplitting noises erupted from the console room, as if a whole cabinet of steel pans had clattered to the floor in the midst of a loud clanging bell.

The Doctor jumped up and shouted, "Rickey, I told you not to touch anything!" and he ran off without a glance behind him, mentally cursing himself for his moment of weakness. As he ran out, he was too distracted to hear Rose release a frustrated sob.


	2. After Age of Steel

As the TARDIS door shut, leaving Mickey behind in the alternate universe, Rose ran past the Doctor to her room. After quickly setting the TARDIS controls to send her back to their own universe, the Doctor followed her. Her door was closed. The Doctor hesitated for a second, but then knocked on her door.

"Rose? Rose, please let me in…"

He heard her sniffle and say, "ok," her voice muffled, and the Doctor let himself in.

Rose was sitting on the edge of her bed, wiping her tears away with a handkerchief, one the Doctor had given her. (It was from wardrobe, no family heirloom, but still.) The Doctor came to sit next to her on her bed, close but not touching, his leg a mere inch from hers. It seemed like there was an electric charge in that tiny space, making the hairs on his leg stand up.

"Rose, I'm so sorry…"

"No, it's alright. I guess… I guess I'm upset that I'm not more upset, if that makes sense. He was right, you know? Things weren't the same between me and him anymore. Still, he was still one of my best mates, I just can't believe I'll never see him again…"

"One of your best mates?"

"Shu' up. You know who the other is."

The Doctor took a deep breath, and started to say, in a serious tone, "Rose, I…"

"I wanna see my mum."

"But…"

"My proper mum. I just wanna make sure she's ok"

"Oh, yeah, of course, whatever you want."

The Doctor went to set the controls on the TARDIS. He wasn't sure what he had wanted to say to Rose, but he knew that whatever it was he felt extremely unsatisfied not having had the chance to say it. An image of Rose in her maid's uniform kept floating, tantalizingly, in front of his eyes. He found himself involuntarily imagining a different scenario had gone down in her bedroom:

"_So… alone again, aren't we…" the Doctor would say, in an uncharacteristically suave tone._

_Rose would be speechless, sensing the sexual undertone in the Doctor's voice. _

"_We started something when Mickey so rudely interrupted us. I was hoping now that he's gone we might continue…"_

_Rose would close and open her eyes again, almost like she was light-headed. She would unconsciously lick her beautiful, full lips, leaving them moist and slightly open. _

"_Have I told you I like you in your dress…" he would say, placing a hand at the waist of Rose's maid's outfit, then reaching back to pull on the string on the bow of her apron and letting it fall. "Guess I have a bit of a thing for maids… and queens… and Rose, you are both…"_

_Rose's breath would hitch in her throat, and she would whisper almost silently, "Doctor…"_

_Slowly, they would both lean back together onto the bed, the Doctor driving, slowly and gently, prying her legs apart with his knees, as Rose lay back, breathing heavily and not taking her eyes from his. After several long moments of heavy breathing and staring into each other's eyes, the Doctor would surprise her by suddenly sweeping in for a hard, fiery kiss…_

"Are we heading back to Earth? To my mum?"

Rose came into the console room, interrupting the Doctor's reverie. She was no longer in her maid's outfit, but a blue, long-sleeve shirt with bric-a-brac sewn on and a pair of jeans. It was no maid's outfit, but she still looked…no, he musn't think like that. The Doctor felt sheepish, guilty and embarrassed, but he knew he couldn't show it, or suffer having to explain to Rose why.

"Uh, um, yeah, just… setting the coordinates now." And he began pressing buttons and pulling levers as if he'd been doing that all along. He stood extra close to the console to hide the growing evidence of his imagination. He felt flushed… could Time Lords blush?

"Are you alright?" Rose asked him, noticing a little strangeness on his part, but having no idea why.

Quickly the Doctor responded, "yes, 'course, I'm always alright. How 'bout you?"

"I'll be better when I can see my mum… Can't we go faster?"

The Doctor realized the selfishness of even just fantasizing about Rose when she was clearly so anxious. Vowing to banish all such thoughts from his mind in the future, he focused more intently on the console, saying "Of course, Miss Tyler, whatever mademoiselle wants. Allons-y!"

And with that, the TARDIS whirred into motion.


	3. After Satan Pit: Dreams and Nightmares

"_It said I was gonna die in battle…"_

"_Then it lied."_

Rose had never been to the Doctor's bedroom before – she didn't even know if he had one, did Time Lords sleep? She always got tired and went to bed well before him, and he was always up and active by the time she stumbled through the control room in the morning to get to the mess, grunting incomprehensively until she'd had a cuppa. This led to no shortage of jokes from the Doctor at her expense, often jabs like, "the Beast awakens!" Of course, that joke was not so funny anymore.

It was the night after they escaped from the Satan Pit. Rose had tried to stay awake as late as possible, sitting with the Doctor on the old car seat/sofa, not wanting to leave him after coming so close to losing him. But her head and eyes drooped, and the Doctor sent her to bed.

"Don't worry," he assured her with a smile and a hand on her cheek. "I'll be here when you wake up."

She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, but it was anything but a peaceful slumber. A flash flood of disturbing images and sounds hit her; the deep, harsh voice of the Beast telling her she would die in battle; the deafening metal clomp of the march of a million Cybermen; the high pitched scream of the Daleks; and the Doctor, screaming, reaching out to her as she fell – no, was pulled, away from him, by something stronger than gravity…

She woke with a start, her heart beating furiously, her body covered in sweat. So now, she tiptoed down the TARDIS hallway, not sure where or if the Doctor had a bedroom, but the TARDIS seemed to lead her, by instinct, to his door.

It was slightly ajar, and Rose half knocked, half pushed the door open slightly. The Doctor, who was sitting at a white desk, wearing his brainy specs and looking at a disorderly pile of papers - engine schematics and the like - glanced up at her, a surprised look on his face. He quickly pulled off his glasses, as he always did, and jumped out of his chair to rush towards her, a look of concern on his face.

"Rose, are you alright?"

She shook her head, and tears welled up in her eyes. "I had nightmares…"

"Oh, come here." He pulled her into a gentle but reassuring hug, his hand rubbing her back. As they pulled away, he put his hand on the back of her head and kissed her forehead, slightly stroking her hair in the process.

"Can… can I…"

He looked at her expectantly as she struggled to get out what she had to say.

"Can I sleep here?"

"Oh! Oh, uh, um, uh, yes, well, you know, uh… oh… uh, ok," he replied, stuttering and stammering, but acquiescing with a bemused smile.

"Thanks," she said as she flashed him a shining and grateful smile.

Turning away from him, she finally had a chance to look around the room. The desk was not the only thing that was white – so was the fluffy white rug, and the fluffy white bed, and the fluffy white comforter. The room didn't seem like him at all, and she could only imagine that this was the TARDIS's idea of a joke, since he must not have spent much time in there. The room was quite large, much larger than hers, but it lacked any of the sort of personal touches that she had filled her room with to make it home. No photos, no knick-knacks, no souvenirs. Wasn't that just the Doctor's way? Never, ever, looking back.

The Doctor watched as Rose discreetly looked around and walked toward the bed. She was wearing purple pajamas – summer ones, in a light fabric, with loose short shorts and a loose, spaghetti strap camisole – and nothing else. The Doctor blushed a little and primly averted his eyes.

He followed her to the bed, pulling back the comforter for her. As she slipped in, he pulled the comforter up to her chin, tucking her in.

"And don't let the bed bugs bite!" he said snarkily, and she giggled a little. Once again, he reached down and kissed her on the forehead. "Goodnight, Rose." She smiled at him.

"Goodnight, Doctor. And thanks."

"Do you mind if I keep working in here?"

"No, not at all."

He went back to his desk. After glancing back once to look at Rose, and seeing her looking beautifully peaceful, with her eyes lightly shut, the Doctor immersed himself once more in his work. Somewhere between working out the stresses on the atmospheric sustainers and calculating the relative dimensional stability of the exterior plating, he heard Rose groan in distress. He turned towards her – she was still asleep, but rather than looking peaceful, her eyes were shut tight in a pained expression, and she was not lying still but shuddering. The Doctor got up, and not stopping to take off his trainers, he climbed into the bed behind her, lying down on top of the comforter and reaching his arms around to hold her.

"Ssssshhhhh…" he whispered to her. Without waking she seemed to calm down. The Doctor stayed in bed with her, his arms still around her, but kept his eyes open, watching her for a sign of the nightmare's return. She remained calmly asleep for long enough that the Doctor could be reasonably certain of being able to leave her… but he found he had no desire to. "Better safe than sorry…" he thought, and in deciding to settle himself there for the night, the Doctor relaxed, eventually closing his eyes himself.

He must not have slept that much – Time Lords only needed an hour here or there. Nonetheless, it felt like sleeping. By closing his eyes, and sticking his nose in her hair so he could continuously breathe in her scent, he felt a feeling of absolute peace overwhelming him, like slipping into the deepest, happiest, dream-filled sleep. Sometimes he actually did sleep—whether for an hour, or just a few minutes, he had no idea—and when he did, he dreamed… he dreamed of the two of them laughing and running and holding hands, and he dreamed of a situation a lot like the one they were in now, only she would turn around to face him and….

But he would furrow his brow and shake his head, shaking away those dreams… he could not have those dreams. When he did this, Rose mumbled, still half-asleep, "Doctor, y'ok?" And he whispered back, "sorry. Back to sleep…" and he would bury his nose in her hair again, listen to her breathing slow to an even pace, and resume his reverie.

When she woke up he was gone, but she heard tinkering down the hall in the control room. She went back to her room to shower and dress, eventually joining him to help with some routine TARDIS maintenance: replacing thermo-couplings, holding down buttons for long periods of time while the Doctor rambled incomprehensively about interdimensional propulsion mechanics. They didn't say a word about the previous night.

Later that evening, Rose once again tiptoed to his room… not because she'd had nightmares, but because, well…

She tried the knob but the door was locked. She knocked slightly and called, "Doctor?" but heard no answer. He must have been elsewhere on the TARDIS, wide awake and still working away. Sighing, Rose returned to her room, disappointed, but wondering if it was probably for the best.

Inside his locked bedroom, the Doctor sat at his desk, frozen and silent. He stayed silent, because he hoped she wouldn't hear him. He stayed frozen, because he had to command every fiber of his being not to jump up and let her in.

Rose never returned to his room after that, and like many other moments that had come and gone, they never discussed it again…


End file.
